In Stephanie Coontz article title "What We Really Miss About The 1950s" Sourced by the book "Rereading America" she seeks to provide insight and critical analysis into why the 1950s are so highly esteemed today and why they are so missed. Coontz sees herself as being well equipped as well as suitably verse in the elements that configure the 1900s. She even goes as far as to use a personal experience from her life during that time to give the reader a deeper understanding into the societal norms that made up the 1950s. It is quickly made evident that Coontz takes her work serious and personal. In Coontz's analysis she used a multitude of factors surrounding the struggles as well as the triumphs experienced in the 50s and in doing so she gives a wide range
Racism was also a huge factor that seems to be hid by the appearance of the 1950s. African American and Latino families received no support from the government. Discrimination was widespread. Coontz explains that the sexism
This scene draws the conclusion that during the 1950s many Americans were very individualistic meaning they were unsociable. The
Before the 1950s, there were issues that were not formally addressed beforehand. It could be stated that people ignored the truth that “they would have to someday work in the fields to secure food.” The food is the equality that was given to them by divine rule. However, that equality was yet an illusion as there were minorities who cried for civil rights movements. Issues of white supremacy around the US surfaced around the mid 1950s and scuffles took place.
‘Ahhh, the good ol’ days.’ When people hear this, they think back to a time when they remember happiness in the 1950’s. However, people tend to only remember the happiness that the media portrayed and not the negative aspects of this time period. Looking at texts, and comparing them to the television shows from this time period shows that the media is an unreliable portrayal of the majority of family living and gender roles from this time period. The families in the televisions shows are conformists; a happy suburban home, a father who works, a mother who stays at home, and the three children who rely on their parents.
Conformity is behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. Also according to Webster's dictionary social repression is is the act of controlling, subduing or suppressing people, groups and larger social aggregations by interpersonal means. I agree to the greater extent that during the 1950’s were a time of conformity and social repression. In American life housing, genders and culture get an impact on conformity and social repression.
The Berlin Wall and Great Depression were over and the new era came upon to spark the beginning of the 1950’s. The typical focus of this era was to protect families individually and preserve domesticity, and hold certain standards too succeed in life. To include, that in 1950’s, there was much improvement when it came to working and jobs. There were more white collar jobs in the office and other administrative settings such as: advertising, marketing, etc. After the Cold War, there was a vast Economic boom, people were earning money and putting money in the banks more than ever before.
2 It is essential to go back to the fifties to be able to understand the sixties historically and sociologically. The fifties brought relief since the Depression and war were over, and now “science was mobilized by industry, and capital was channeled by government as never before.” 3 This new affluence gave the United States the ability to create suburbia and conform to moving in. This affected the sixties because conformity resulted in people rebelling.
America experienced a sudden disregard of Victorian values following World War I, causing the generation of the 1920s to dramatically contrast the previous. This severe degree of change produced three major manifestations of the contradictions in the twenties. There were massive conflicts to the Jazz Age, technological advancements, and Black Migration. The contradictions of the 1920s reflect America’s conflicted state between advancement and convention, as the cultural and technological developments of the era coincide with the inability of individuals to stray from traditional norms and racist attitudes.
The common factor from this time period and that time period of the early 1950’s is that the media is the primary source of enlightenment. Families would look to the media to provide them comfort and ease. When people are desperate to feel safe, however they can attain that safety is what they will use to their advantage. When people passively listen, they listen to what they want to hear. In the lives of many families whom were against the civil rights movement, their minds were already set on how to live their lives and so they chose to ignore the rest.
This shows the mixed reviews the book was receiving in the early years of its publication. The book exemplified the daily American life and culture during mid twentieth century, which when read in the context of the present day, demonstrates how the American society has changed. Anyone reading this book today will be impressed with
Over the decades, music has evolved in so many ways that has helped influence society. Whether it be music that makes us happy during the bad times, or music that brings different types of people together, music has always been there. According to Merriam Webster dictionary music is an agreeable sound. It has influenced society to just live life, stand up for what we believe in, and has marked different “eras.” Music helped influence the 50s, 60s, and the 70s in some similar ways but by each decade came a new genre of music that influenced the way people acted and dressed.
Counterculture When analyzing the 1950s, it is clear that racial segregation, strict sexual mores, oppressive women’s rights, and high materialism were considered normal. The 1960s counter-culture was all about rallying against these. This paper argues that despite the values of the 1950’s that the counterculture sought to reject, issues under the surface would help pave the way for the 1960’s counterculture. The 1955 Good Housewife’s
During the 1950’s The Golden Age era seemed to be a simple way to live life. The way that Americans lived life in the 1950’s seemed simple because of what was represented especially TV, which became a really powerful medium of how reality should be in living life (The 1950’s PowerPoint). The messages for developing and labeling for females have always seem to be a complex from the beginning. When it comes to beauty pageants appearance seems to be the biggest influence. The Barbie doll 1959 first commercial seems to represent how young girls should be more like a Barbie doll image.
The Age of Conformity 1950’s America was a time where medicine, technology and music were becoming more and more advanced. From the manufacturing of cars, to the birth of corny sitcoms, America was very quickly becoming more futuristic. Looking back at the 1950s, it is easy to look over the years and notice the positive aspects of the developing decade, but if one takes a closer look, it wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. Teenage gangs were at an all time high as the new sounds of rock and roll encouraged violence, a war between Russia and the US was brewing and media influence was encouraging conformity rather than individualism.
